INDUS
Inclusive water governance
People in Pakistan are facing an increase in
drought and floods, which results in more frequent
water shortages. Particularly the food security
and livelihoods of rural communities are in danger.
The causes include climate change, an out-dated
irrigation system in the Indus river basin, and
institutions’ inability to stop water grabbing.
THE REGION
Agriculture is essential to Pakistan’s food security and economy.
It is the single most important source of employment and
exports, accounting for two-thirds of employment and 80% of
exports. Because of the country’s arid climate, irrigation is vital
to agricultural production. An estimated 90% of Pakistan’s food
grains and almost 100% of its vegetables, cash crops and fruits
originate from areas serviced by the largest contiguous
irrigation system in the world. Pakistan built this system
in the Indus river basin, that is: in the 47% it owns, including
the rivers Indus, Jhelum and Chenab. More than 95 percent
of Pakistan’s total consumptive water use relies on
the Indus river basin.
Oxfam’s INCLUSIVE WATER GOVERNANCE PROGRAMME
helps communities take on those challenges. It
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You can now join Oxfam in this effort!
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Indus River Basin
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Water conflicts within and across provincial borders arise due to
Photo: Indus Consortium
THE CHALLENGES
Marginalized rural communities in the basin (mainly
comprised of small landholders dependent on
subsistence farming) suffer from many intertwined
problems: water scarcity, unequal distribution of
water, food insecurity, internal migration,
malnutrition, decreased agricultural production,
land value drops, increased income inequality and
extra pressure on women, for example. To the right
are some of the main causes:
disagreements and overlapping rights on the use of water. Conflicts
are fuelled by the demands of population growth, urbanisation,
industrialisation and modern agriculture.
Governance issues such as decaying institutions and challenges in
implementing laws, rules and regulations, contribute both to low water
tax income and to communities’ inability to stand up for themselves.
Lack of cooperation between local water users makes it easier for
government bodies to ignore them in decision-making and for large
landowners to steal water from them with impunity.
Under-appreciation of women in spite of their experience and important
role in managing water resources, leads to their exclusion from decisionmaking, water policy development and institutional arrangements.
Insufficient knowledge of water resources management keeps rural
communities dependent on fragmented and failing government
management, and discourages them from really taking control over
their own water resources.
Aging infrastructure and the fact that regular operation and
maintenance of the irrigation system are treated less and less as a
political priority, make water distribution increasingly inefficient and
unsustainable.
Over-intensive irrigation and upstream water diversion has led to
waterlogging, salinity and severe degradation of the delta ecology. Many
people depend on the environmental services of this ecology.
Increased water grabbing by large landholders benefits their production,
income and political influence over water policies. It increases water
stress for rural communities, reduces their income and leads to disputes.
OBJECTIVES AND APPROACH
Oxfam’s INCLUSIVE WATER GOVERNANCE PROGRAMME
in Pakistan aims to secure poor people’s access to
water resources, thereby reducing their poverty and
realising their rights to sustainable livelihoods. In order
to achieve this, the programme – through its partners –
mobilises and builds the capacity of small-scale farmers
and their families, structurally engaging them in
advocacy, lobby and campaigning. It focuses on the
objectives to the right, paying special attention to
women and young people.
Resolving conflicts and promoting the role of women in peace
building processes will be a major component of our future
work. This is what we specifically aim for:
PRESSURE
Civil society organisations increasingly
advocate for meaningful participation
of women in local water governance and
related peacebuilding policy processes.
INCLUDE
Women are included
in water governance and
related peacebuilding
policy processes.
Women have a meaningful say in water-related peacebuilding
processes and their involvement contributes to a decrease in
water-related conflicts.
CLAIM
With the support of civil society
organisations, women have a voice
in water governance related policies
that affect their lives.
COMMIT
Government and water
governance bodies behave
gender and conflict-sensitively
and are accountable to citizens.
1. INCREASED AVAILABILITY OF WATER
In order to ensure effective use, better delivery and augmentation
of water resources, the programme, among other things:
– teaches small-scale farmers how to utilise smarter
water use techniques;
– introduces better technology;
– helps improve their operation and maintenance (O&M) of
water resources;
– enables more and more people to participate in O&M;
– provides knowledge and skills needed for budget tracking
and accountability;
– shows them how to conserve existing water resources;
– teaches them how to increase the amount of water resources.
2. IMPROVED RIGHTS TO WATER
In order to increase people’s necessary access to water and prevent
water grabs, the programme, among other things:
– helps NGO’s obtain influencing and researching skills, work
in partnerships, networks and platforms, and engage with
government bodies and the private sector;
– mobilises (via partner NGO’s) small-scale farmers to build alliances
– supports those alliances in engaging, resolving conflicts, and
preventing conflicts with large and powerful landholders;
– enables its partners and the marginalised communities they
represent to build and spread knowledge (via IT and social media)
and use this knowledge in policy development.
RESULTS
Oxfam partners with governments and many local,
national and regional civil society organisations in order
to achieve results across different scales. For example:
WE MOTIVATE COMMUNITY-LED INITIATIVES
Like when 3,103 small farmers improved their
access to water in water-stressed areas and
made their use of water more efficient.
WE STIMULATE COORDINATION
AMONGST STAKEHOLDERS
Like when communities worked with authorities
to rehabilitate a tributary canal and twenty
watercourses, benefitting thousands of farmers.
WE AMPLIFY PEOPLE’S VOICE
Photo: Indus Consortium
Like when more and more people from local
communities started using the Right to
Information law to seek information related
to their water rights.
WE BUILD KNOWLEDGE
Like when we generated and spread research
results on water governance and water conflicts,
leading to 500 formal complaints against water
grabbing.
Global programme
Oxfam’s work in Pakistan is part of its global water
governance programme, which connects regional
programmes in the Indus, Mekong and Limpopo river
basins. Our approach is focused on inclusive
water governance, which is based on the following
principles:
• TRANS-BOUNDARY SCALE: Sustainable solutions for water governance and management require an approach that goes beyond provincial and national borders.
• INCLUSIVE DECISION-MAKING: The voices of all
users, representing all uses of water resources, need to be heard to ensure fair decision-making.
• EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN: Women play a key
role in water use, and their empowerment is
critical for successful water governance.
• RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES: Not only the rights of rural people are important, they also have
their own responsibilities in water governance.
• POWER OF THE PEOPLE: Oxfam and its partners do not speak on behalf of local communities,
but strengthen their organisations and build
networks so that their voices are heard.
WHY WORK WITH US?
The complex water problems in the Indus basin require strong
partnerships. Oxfam’s INCLUSIVE WATER GOVERNANCE PROGRAMME
strengthens existing partnerships with local NGOs, academia,
local media, public and private sectors. We also seek new
alliances and networks to collaborate, diversify our portfolio and
share knowledge and experiences with community mobilisation,
integrated water resources management and policy advocacy.
Our partnership’s added value lies in:
– our rights-based approach upfront and our long experience
in successful evidence-based influencing;
– our success in working with local and central governments that support our work on the ground and are open to our evidence-
based approaches;
– our effective interventions for food security and climate resilience in the basin’s communities;
– our capacity to link local water issues to national, regional and global levels through our global network;
– our experience in capacity building and our large network of local partners with long-term experience in working with and building trust among local communities;
– our ability to develop a knowledge base in cooperation with
international allies and facilitate interprovincial cooperation.
Photo: Indus Consortium | Cover photo: Doaba Foundation
HOW TO WORK WITH US?
Are you interested in working with us, financially or
by sharing your knowledge and networks?
Please contact:
Khalid Saifullah Khan
(Programme Coordinator Water Governance)
[email protected]
And visit:
www.oxfamnovib.nl/waterprogramme
https://www.facebook.com/OxfamPakistan